> How did the various stations/broadcasters handle the
> coverage of the twisters that wrecked havoc in MO today?
My former employer at Cumulus did a really good in Mid-MO. Wall-to-wall weather coverage when tornado warnings hit with their staff meteorologist, Stacy Allen. Stacy's still a good friend, and her mother-in-law sits two desks behind me at my main job. She told me this morning that Stacy got very little sleep this weekend due to the severe weather coverage and spent more time at the station than she did at home. That was always pretty typical of Stacy and one of the reasons I enjoyed working with her so much. When I was the only person in the building and the EAS on four stations went berzerk, Stacy's reliability and skills were always calming. You used to really be able tell when Stacy was in the building if you were listening to my show on KPLA during severe weather.
My other former employer at the Zimmer Radio Group was more questionable. The stations in the Columbia building, except KCMQ, did a good job at covering the weather, or at least some of them did. KSSZ and KTXY did heavy coverage of the tornado warnings. KCMQ and the stations in the Jefferson City building pretty much ignored it when I listened, which is somewhat odd since Jeff City got hit much harder than Columbia.
In the Ozarks, KTTS 94.7 did well with covering severe weather, as it always does. They had a staff in the studio monitoring the radar, the local TV stations, weather radio, police information, amateur radio and pretty much everything else you need to cover severe weather. They also had the "yellow shirts" (the news team) out in the field doing "Storm Chaser" coverage. Coverage was simulcast on KSGF 1260/104.1 while the other two Journal Broadcast Group stations, KZRQ and KSPW, made little mention of the tornado warning for Greene and Christian Counties. The Mid-West Family stations KOMG/KQRA/KKLH/KOSP aired a simulcast of the wall-to-wall coverage on KOLR-TV 10. Kind of ironic since KOLR used to be KTTS-TV, though kind of fitting as well since ex-KTTS people pretty much run the show at KOMG and KOSP. The Clear Channel stations broke in on at least a few stations and apparently aired simulcast audio from KYTV 3 on a few stations, though I never heard any of it for myself. KY-3 is always known for having the best TV news team in the Ozarks. Also, KJEL in Lebanon did an excellent job covering the severe weather between Springfield and Jefferson City while its sister station KRES 104.7 did well at covering the weather slamming Randolph, Audrain and Monroe Counties north of Columbia. Love or hate the way Shepherd runs its stations, the company is excellent when it comes to severe weather.
